The letter N introduces some of the strangest and most wonderful animals on Earth. There is a whale with a unicorn horn, a little Australian marsupial that eats thousands of termites a day, an armadillo that always has identical quadruplets, and a bird that walks headfirst down tree trunks. Whether you need N animals for a school project or you simply love learning about wildlife, this list has you covered.
Below you will find quick one-line facts for the most familiar N animals, longer entries for wild species, in-depth spotlights on N animals we cover in full on World Deer, a comparison table, and answers to the questions kids ask most.
Common Animals That Start With N
These are the N animals most people can name — plus a few that deserve to be better known. Each one gets a single fast fact.
- Narwhal — an Arctic whale whose spiral tusk is actually a giant tooth that can grow about 10 feet long.
- Newt — a small amphibian that can regrow lost legs, tails, and even parts of its eyes and heart.
- Nightingale — a plain brown songbird famous for one of the most beautiful songs in nature, often sung at night.
- Numbat — a striped Australian marsupial that laps up as many as 20,000 termites in a single day.
- Nyala — a shaggy, spiral-horned antelope from southern Africa; males and females look completely different.
- Nile crocodile — Africa’s largest reptile and one of its most powerful predators, found in rivers and lakes.
- Nine-banded armadillo — an armored mammal that almost always gives birth to identical quadruplets.
- Nurse shark — a calm, bottom-dwelling shark that rests in piles on the seafloor during the day.
- Nuthatch — a little forest bird with a party trick — it walks headfirst straight down tree trunks.
- Nutria — a large semi-aquatic rodent with bright orange front teeth, originally from South America.
- Nene — a gentle Hawaiian goose and the official state bird of Hawaii.
- Natterjack toad — a European toad with a yellow stripe down its back that runs instead of hopping.
- Norway lemming — a small, bold Arctic rodent whose population booms and crashes in cycles.
- Nightjar — a camouflaged night bird that seems to vanish against tree bark during the day.
Wild Animals That Start With N
Now for the wild side of the letter N. Several of these animals have full species profiles here on World Deer — follow the links to keep reading about any that grab you.
The northern pudu is one of the smallest deer on Earth, standing barely knee-high to an adult human. It lives in the misty Andes mountain forests of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, where it slips through dense undergrowth on trails it makes itself.
The neotropical otter hunts fish and crustaceans in rivers from Mexico all the way down to Argentina. Unlike some otters, it usually lives alone, marking its favorite riverbank rocks so neighbors know the fishing spot is taken.
North Atlantic orcas come in two forms that scientists call Type 1 and Type 2. One is a generalist that follows herring shoals, while the other is a bigger, tooth-worn specialist that hunts other marine mammals.
The Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee is the rarest chimpanzee subspecies, surviving in forest patches along the border of the two countries it is named for. Habitat loss and hunting have left only a few thousand individuals.
The northern white-breasted hedgehog trundles through gardens and woodland edges from Poland to Russia, curling into a spiky ball when danger comes close.
The northern Idaho ground squirrel is one of North America’s rarest squirrels, found only in a few mountain meadows in Idaho — and it spends up to eight months of the year underground.
The narwhal deserves a longer look too: its tusk is a left canine tooth packed with millions of nerve endings, so scientists believe it can sense changes in the icy water around it. Males sometimes cross tusks at the surface in a behavior called tusking.
The numbat is an oddball among marsupials — it is active by day, has no pouch, and its long sticky tongue is perfectly built for termite raids. Fewer than a few thousand survive in the wild, all in Australia.
More N Animals Worth Knowing
Still hungry for N animals? These five round out the letter nicely.
- Nilgai — the largest antelope in Asia; its name means “blue cow” in Hindi, after the males’ slate-gray coats.
- Nudibranch — a sea slug in candy-shop colors; some species steal stinging cells from jellyfish and reuse them.
- Noolbenger — the honey possum of Australia — a mouse-sized marsupial that lives entirely on nectar and pollen.
- Nubian ibex — a desert wild goat that trots down near-vertical cliffs to reach waterholes.
- Northern cardinal — the brilliant red songbird of American backyards; females sing too, which is rare among songbirds.
Spotlight: N Animals We Cover in Depth
Northern Pudu: A Deer the Size of a House Cat
World Deer began as a deer encyclopedia, so the northern pudu holds a special place here. Adults stand only about 13 to 14 inches at the shoulder and weigh less than most pet dogs, making the pudu genus the smallest true deer in the world.
Pudus are shy browsers that nibble leaves, buds, and fallen fruit, and they can stand on their hind legs to reach higher branches. Read the full northern pudu profile — or meet its close cousin, the southern pudu of Chile and Argentina.
Neotropical Otter: The Solo Swimmer of Latin America
From mountain streams to coastal lagoons, the neotropical otter is one of the most adaptable otters anywhere. It has webbed feet, a rudder-like tail, and whiskers that feel for fish in murky water.
Because it depends on clean rivers, this otter is an indicator species — where it thrives, the water is healthy. Our neotropical otter guide covers its habitat, diet, and conservation story.
North Atlantic Orca: Two Whales in One?
Orcas are found in every ocean, but the North Atlantic population is especially fascinating because its two types behave almost like different species. Type 1 orcas follow fish; Type 2 orcas specialize in hunting whales and dolphins.
Each pod passes its hunting tradition down through generations, taught by the oldest females. Dive into the details in our North Atlantic orca profile.
N Animals at a Glance
Here are ten standout N animals side by side — what they are, where they live, and one fact worth remembering about each.
| Animal | Type | Habitat | Fun fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Narwhal | Marine mammal | Arctic Ocean | Its spiral tusk is a tooth with about 10 million nerve endings |
| Numbat | Marsupial | Australian woodlands | Eats up to 20,000 termites a day with a sticky tongue |
| Nyala | Antelope | Southern African thickets | Males are shaggy and gray; females are bright rusty red |
| Nile crocodile | Reptile | African rivers and lakes | Mothers gently carry hatchlings to water in their jaws |
| Nine-banded armadillo | Mammal | Americas, grasslands and forests | Almost always gives birth to identical quadruplets |
| Northern pudu | Deer | Andean cloud forests | One of the world’s smallest deer at about 13 inches tall |
| Neotropical otter | Mustelid | Rivers of Central and South America | Marks favorite fishing rocks to claim its stretch of river |
| Nurse shark | Fish | Warm shallow coastal waters | Rests in cuddly-looking piles on the seafloor by day |
| Nightingale | Bird | European woodland and scrub | Can sing over 200 different song variations |
| Newt | Amphibian | Ponds and damp woodland | Can regrow lost limbs, tail tissue, and more |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous animal that starts with N?
Probably the narwhal — the “unicorn of the sea.” Its long spiral tusk made sailors believe unicorn horns were real hundreds of years ago. Traders even sold narwhal tusks as unicorn horns to kings and queens.
Are there any deer that start with N?
Yes! The northern pudu, one of the smallest deer in the world, starts with N. Standing barely over a foot tall, it lives in the Andes mountains of South America and is small enough to hide under ferns.
What N animal would make the strangest pet?
None of these should really be pets, but the numbat would be the trickiest — you would need to serve it about 20,000 live termites every single day, because termites are almost the only thing it eats.
Keep Exploring the Alphabet
This page is part of our full animal alphabet series. Browse every species profile on the site, or keep touring the letters.
- Animals A–Z — the master index of every species profile on World Deer
